How important is popularity to you and where is your cut off?

Is popularity something that is important to you or do you just use whatever name you like regardless of popularity?

Also what is your cut off by that I mean will you not use names that are in the top 10? Top 20? 50? 100? 500? Etc.

I have a very popular name Samantha and I have a really boring filler type middle name. No only did I go to school with 4 other Samantha in my grade but two of them had the same first and middle and one of them had a last name that started with the same letter so our entire initials were identical. Several times there was me and another Samantha in a class and we had to use a last initial or go by Sam. I hate the nick names for my name but likes my full first name except for it being popular.

I had my daughter at 17 I was naive thinking if I had never met anyone with that name then obviously it must be somewhat rare so I used my favorite name with our thinking of the actual popularity and used Izabella. It fits her and I think it's beautiful but it's scared me away from using popular names ever again. My sons are named Holden and sawyer and though they are somewhat popular they aren't in the top 100. For boys I won't use a top 200 names. For girls I like to use nothing in the top 500 with the exception of one of
My current considerations Cecelia.

Yes, popularity is a big deal for me. I had quite a lot namesakes too (when I was in school) and eventhough I love my name, I hate to share it with so many people. But that was nothing. Wait until you have a fight/problem with one of them and you'll hate it even more to see your name used by the people you really really dislike (luckily we're okay by now but still, back then it wasn't pretty).

Basically, I don't think I'll ever use top 50 names. Will try to avoid 100 too. But, maybe (just maybe), I will still use a popular name if it has a significant meaning, or if I really love it and just can't find a replacement I love as much.

I usually try to avoid top 20 names for my area. I would prefer a name out of the top 100, but there are some top 100 names that I love and would use anyway. My son's name isn't even in the top 1000, but I wish it was. It is a great name, imo, and it makes me sad that others don't seem to think so. The only really popular names I would consider using are classic names like Elizabeth.

I don't have a cut off, or a hard rule about popularity. Perhaps because of my own experience - my name's been in the top forty or so for the past few decades, yet I can count on one hand the number of others I've met with my name. I think I'm fine with a name as long as it's not in the top twenty. Even the current most popular names aren't being used as much as names like Jennifer, Jessica, etc were back in the day.